Aberdaron and Beyond....

I think that one of the hardest decisions an athlete can make is not to compete in a race for which you have trained. Despite the fact that I had an entry for last Saturday's international Snowdon race, having spoken with Andy my coach and none other than Rob Samuel, they were both of the opinion that, to run the race in advance of my competing in the Commonwealth champs' would be nothing short of ludicrous. I must admit, I was very disappointed and to make it worse, Neale dragged me along to Llanberis to watch the race. Those of you who know me will be aware that I hate to watch. Friday evening prior to the race, I received a text message from Welsh Athletics asking me to meet up with a representative for a coffee and to discuss my selection for the ultra race in September and I must admit I was a little apprehensive. Being the pessimist that I am I thought that I may be about to receive some disappointing news but, after the meeting I remained happy to be a member of the Welsh squad. The meeting was merely to discuss the training regime and also to suggest that me together with other members of the selected squad should ensure that we train at least weekly on the actual course upon which the race is to be held. With that in mind, Sunday saw the regulars of the 'Sunday Gang meet up at Newbrough to recce the course. However, the following day, I met up with Welsh mountain team runner Arwel Lewis who had planned the course for the race, only to find that the route we had run on the previous Sunday was wrong! No problem though, Arwel took me around the correct route. Good grief it's tough and to think we have to do no less than 5 laps of the almost 11km course. It's gonna be tough folks.......Finally, as n afterthought and on recommendation from a friend, Neale and  I travelled down to Aberdaron on Wednesday evening for a 8.3 mile multi-terrain race. Held in the beautiful Lleyn peninsula, the conditions were perfect. A 7pm start and a great atmosphere it was fantastic. The race turned out to be very tough, with several gruelling climbs and was won finally by Alun Vaughan, followed closely by Gwyn Owen of Eryri harriers. I was ecstatic to be 1st lady by over 6 minutes and even managed to scrape into the top 10 overall.....very pleasing and my 1st win of the year.......